Cunningham's campaign was a swift action which resulted in the taking of 50,000 prisoners and the loss of only 500 of his men.

His success in East Africa led to Cunningham's appointment to command the newly formed Eighth Army in North Africa in August 1941.[2] His immediate task was to lead General Sir Claude Auchinleck's Libyan Desert offensive which began on 18 November. However, early losses led Cunningham to recommend the offensive be curtailed. This advice was not accepted by his superiors, and Auchinleck relieved him of his command.[2] He returned to Britain to serve the remainder of the war as Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley (1942) and General Officer C-in-C in Northern Ireland (1943) and Eastern Command (1944).[2] He was knighted in 1941.

After the war, Cunningham, who was promoted to general on 30 October 1945, returned to the Middle East as High Commissioner of Palestine; he served in the position from 1945 to 1948.[2] As such, he was in charge of Britain's head-on confrontation with Zionist underground and militia groups who in this period challenged its rule[citation needed] in Palestine – the Hagana, Etzel and Lehi.

Cunningham had retired from the army in October 1946 when he relinquished the role of Commander-in-Chief Palestine, but retained the job of High Commissioner until 1948.[2] As such he had the task of winding up British rule and departing the country in May 1948, with the British mandate expired, and in the midst of bitter war between still un-proclaimed Israel (the State of Israel was declared during the final hours of the British Mandate) and the Palestinian militias, with Arab armies poised to invade as soon as the British withdrew. The photo of Cunningham taking down the British flag at the port of Haifa is a historical photo often reproduced in Israeli history textbooks.